Guardian Australia reported on 8 November that Victoria Oakley, chief executive of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), warned Prime Minister Anthony Albanese against weakening Australian copyright law for AI training as his government considers changes.
Oakley called the prospect “ridiculous and dangerous”. She argued that an Australian exemption could let companies train on music from anywhere, making the country the “weakest link” for rights holders worldwide.
The government is considering copyright changes alongside AI policies covering datacentres, online safety, the workforce, energy and the economy. Albanese has promised “the strongest possible protection” for creatives and called uncompensated use “theft”. Attorney general Michelle Rowland’s spokesperson pledged that “any future copyright changes deliver meaningful control and fair compensation”.
Anthropic has proposed allowing scraping unless rights holders object, an approach AI Affairs previously reported. In answers to a parliamentary committee on AI, OpenAI said Spotify would be expected to license the copyrighted content it streams because its business differs from OpenAI’s. Oakley said music labels had signed dozens of licensing deals with smaller AI companies worldwide.
